V-Flyer

Hi guys. I have BMI Gold and have a flight next month. Can anyone advise as to whether the BMI lounge in T1 is better than the Star Alliance one.

Any interesting comparisons would be appreciated (food avaialability, drinks, TV's, views etc.).

Oh, and if I have BMI gold, do I have to separately apply for Star Alliance Gold or does the BMI card get me in to the Star Alliance lounge?

Many thanks!

BMI card will get you in. I did not use the BMI lounge, did not have enough time when running through the place recently. In the *A lounge, space was restricted from when it was the BA lounge in T1, and the space felt a bit more claustrophobic - low lights, lower ceilings than used to be the case (or so it felt), and smaller footprint. I did not thoroughly explore whether there is more space that will be added, or a First class lounge, or anything. It really was a run-through.

They had a couple of self-service food stations with hot and cold offerings. Usual breakfast stuff with a couple of bacon sandwich type things, which I did not try; it was about coming up lunchtime, and they started bringing out several indian hot appetizer things, samosas, pakora stuff, which was very tasty. A bit spicy even, some of it, which is very welcome, and a bit unusual. There were soup and stew offerings, which I did not try. Felt like a very very reduced scale offering of the sort of thing that gets put out in Galleries in T5 now. Better than what you got in the old BA I thought.

Drinks selection is limited - as in don't expect a choice of three different gin and vodka brands. But all the basics are there to fix a drink. No sparkling wine was visible, and I did not have time to enquire as to any being available, but did not see staff milling around with bottles either.

Hope this helps.

Thanks MarkedMan - that's useful. From the limited info on food I can find out about in the BMI Diamond Lounge the *A offerings sound more varied.

I prefer the *A lounge... even just simple things like the decor keep me happier. The BMI lounges look very dated these days, IMHO... more akin to a dentists waiting room.
The food options in the *A lounge are better. Bar is much of a muchness. They've got showers too, if you feel the need... not sure if they have those in BMI's lounge.

In the BMI Lounge, there's no showers, and nothing food-wise other than nibbles, biscuits, occasionally croissants in the morning, and the odd bit of cake.

The *A lounge has a decent selection of hot and cold food (good bacon rolls at brekky, cereals, croissants, fruit, etc.), but no view of planes (but since they closed the Kilo cul-de-sac, neither does the BMI lounge).

If I was to pick between the two, I'd go for the *A, though I can see it getting very busy once Lufty, Swiss and Austrian move in to T1 and share it. It already struggles with the existing load.

Mike

Just to check.

You have access to the *A lounge if travelling in C on BMI to DUB, right ??

Looks like its the *A then! I might pop into the BMI lounge if I'm passing to have a nose but as I am taking an 11am flight I will be arriving at LHR at about 7ish so will need some of those bacon rolls!!!!

Just looked on the Schiphol website and the *A gold gets me in to the SQ lounge - does anyone know what this is like??

Also - is BMI checkin at LHR and AMS like VS at LHR - i.e. you can check in as early as you like??